Cotton sampler apparatus



May 2, 1939. G. E. GAUS ET AL COTTON SAMPLER APPARATUS Filed Oct. 7, 1938 N\\ C IIN..

Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES COTTON SAMPLER APPARATUS George E. Gaus, Washington, D. C., and Gerald N. Franks, Leland, Miss., assignors to Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America, and his successors in office Application October '7,

3 Claims.

1938, Serial No. 233,773

(Cl. lil-156) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described and claimed, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes Without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a cotton sampler apparatus designed to produce a bat-like truly representative sampleof the grade components of the ginned lint, constituting the contents of a bale of cotton, prior to the process of condensing the ginned lint for delivery to a cotton bale press-box.

One of the objects of this .invention is the pro vision of means adaptable to the lint flue of a cotton gin for obtaining a uniform portion of the lint cotton as it leaves the gin stands and to 20 deliver the lint in the form of a ribbon-like bat comparable in quality to that of the cotton bat produced by the cotton gin condenser in forming the contents for the completed bale.

The following description, considered together with the accompanying drawing, will more fully 25 disclose this invention, its construction, arrangement, and combination of parts and further objects and advantages thereof will be apparent.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an illustrative embodiment of this invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring with more particularity to the drawing in which like numerals designate like parts, the numeral I designates a segment of a lint flue, employed in the conventional manner, for conveying air-borne lint cotton from a cotton gin (not shown) to a cotton bale condenser (not shown). Said lint flue I may be of any convenient cross-section suitable for the purpose of this invention, such as circular, pentagonal, hexagonal, and so forth.

A plurality of conveyor ducts 2, are tapped into the flue I at an optimum angle, preferably sloping in the general direction of travel of the cotton lint through said flue, in helical spaced relation, substantially as illustrated, and they are subjoined to a miniature lint cotton condenser 4 or any other suitable means well known in the art for collecting and compressing into 55 suitable bat form air-borne lint cotton.

Convex baffles 3 of a streamlined character are disposed contiguous with the forward wall of the ducts 2 and they are of a shape optimum for the purpose of diverting increments of air-borne lint cotton passing through said flue I without substantially obstructing the general flow stream. It has been found that the general involute curve gives a satisfactory contour for said baflles 3. Side Walls 5 5 are provided for each of said baies 3, substantially as illustrated, for the purpose of enclosing the space between the bailles 3 and the flue I.

The operation of this invention is as follows:

Small quantities of the mass of air-borne lint cotton traveling under aerodynamic pressure in the lint flue I, as indicated by the directional arrows in the drawing, are diverted by the baflies 3 into ducts 2 and thence intoI the condenser 4 where a continuous ribbon-like bat is formed as a truly representative sample of the bulk of lint cotton delivered to the cotton bale condenser not shown) by the flue I.

The baiiles 3, being designed in streamline fashion and to present no lint retaining obstructions, prevent the banking up of lint and at the same time cause positive diversion of small quantities of the mass of air-borne cotton into the flues 2.

It is desirable to use a plurality of nues 2 in the manner specified so that the resulting sarnples will be truly representative of the grade components of the ginned lint. Normally, the cross-sectional area of the mass of air-borne lint passing through the flue I is not of a uniformly distributed composition and to obtain a truly representative sample, it is desirable to tap the flue I at different points circumferentially and at different points axially so that the flues 2 will not functionally affect each other.

Having thus described our invention, We claim:

1. Lint cotton sampler apparatus in combination with a lint flue connecting a cotton gin with a cotton condenser, comprising a plurality of conveyor ducts tapped into said flue in helical spaced relation, bat-forming means subjoined to said ducts, and baflie meansdisposed in said flue in proximity to said ducts for diverting into said ducts portions of air-borne lint cotton passing through said flue without substantially obstructing the general flow stream thereof.

2. A device as defined by claim 1, in which the baffle means are characterized by the fact that their effective areas have streamlined surfaces.

.3. A device as dened by claim 1, in which the effective surface of said baflle means has the general convex shape of an involute curve.

GEORGE E. GAUS. GERALD N. FRANKS. 

